In a xerographic device, such as a copier, a photoconductor's latent image is subjected to the influence of a developer whereat toner is deposited on the latent image. Since toner is a consumable constituent of the xerographic process, it must be continuously supplied to the developer in a controlled manner, usually by way of a toner dispenser.
The dispenser portion of a xerographic developer stores a supply of virgin toner which is periodically metered to the developer, in a controlled fashion, during copier use. This control of toner metering can be accomplished open-loop, for example as a function of copier usage, or it can be accomplished closed-loop by a toner concentration sensing device which operates to meter toner as a function of the quantity of toner which is sensed to be in the developer. In either arrangement, it is periodically necessary to restock virgin toner in the developer's replenisher.
Typically, the replenisher takes the form of an elongated bin and an elongated metering roller which spans the length of the developer's development zone, this zone being a function of the width of the photoconductor to be developed. Other replenishers may comprise a bin located at one point, for example one end, along the developer's length. In this case a toner transport device, such as an auger, is used to evenly distribute virgin toner along the developer's development zone.
The problem of dispensing flowable material, such as xerographic toner, has been addressed in a variety of ways by the prior art.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,808 addresses the problem of loading toner to a developer from a bottle-like container by providing two relatively movable concentric cylinders. The inner cylinder is stationary and includes an upward facing opening which is adapted to receive toner from the inverted bottle. The outer cylinder rotates so that its cooperating opening can be positioned facing down, for attachment of an upright toner bottle. After such attachment, the outer cylinder is rotated 180.degree. so that the attached toner bottle is inverted as it is brought into alignment with the opening of the inner cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,336 provides an arrangement for dispensing dry granular or powdered, material, such as salt, etc., from a bulk storage container to a receptacle container wherein external isolation is provided during material transfer. More specifically, the dispensing portion of the bulk storage container includes a projecting stationary inner sleeve which includes dispensing ports. A telescoping outer sleeve normally closes these ports. When the bulk storage container is inverted, and then pressed into an upward-facing opening in the receptacle container, the storage container's telescoping sleeve is obstructed by a cooperating portion of the storage container. As a result, the telescoping sleeve remains stationary as the inner sleeve penetrates the receptacle container, thereby opening the dispensing ports to the receptacle container. The receptacle container may include a self-closing member for its upward facing opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,105 discloses a toner bottle whose body portion includes a D-shaped opening adapted to communicate with a similar D-shaped opening formed in a rotatable bottle cap. This cap is carried integrally with the bottle such that the bottle is sealed when these D-shaped openings are not aligned. Rotation of the cap by 180.degree. opens the bottle. A cooperating toner hopper removably receives the closed and inverted bottle. This hopper includes a D-shaped, upward facing opening having a lip which mates with the D-shaped opening in the bottle's rotatable cap. Rotation of the bottle by 180.degree. opens the bottle and its toner dumps to the hopper. The bottle's body portion includes locating lugs which are operable to locate the bottle as it is inverted into the hopper's bottle-receiving collar, and to lock the bottle to the collar after 180.degree. rotation of the bottle. The bottle's body portion also includes a stopping lug which hits a collar-supported stop when the bottle has been rotated 180.degree..
The IBM TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE BULLETIN of April 1978, at pages 4708 and 4709, describes a toner replenisher arrangement in which a bottom-unloading cartridge is moved into place on top of a replenisher bin. In so moving, the cartridge causes the bin's upward-facing accordian door to open. Thereafter, a cartridge seal is removed and toner dumps to the bin. When the empty cartridge is to be replaced, the upper portion of the bin, which holds the cartridge, is pivoted 180.degree. so that the cartridge can be removed with its opening now facing upward.